The initial stages of the war were an unmitigated disaster. No one in Epirus was prepared for a war with another Mediterranean empire. Only a few stratoi were even mobilized, so there was no one to defend Epirote territory. Once the men were gathered, it took a long while for them to unite into larger armies.
All of this meant that Carthage was in an amazing position to besiege Lokroi, which was helpless to resist their onslaught. To their credit, they did try - they fought as well as they could, and, once they realized that Sicily was lost, they destroyed the bridges behind them to prevent an easy conquest of Magna Graecia. That even worked - Carthage’s fleet was busy ferrying their armies to Greece itself and had no ships to spare on a Magna Graecian campaign.
All of which proved a hollow victory once Carthaginian soldiers landed in Epirus itself and began their invasion. Epirus’s armies were too spread out to resist, and Carthage briefly had free reign over the heart of the empire. For a year, they occupied the political and spiritual center of the realm. For a year, Passaron itself was threatened and had to hold out against a siege. For a year, the only thing standing between Carthaginian armies and the Epirote capital was a group of scattered bands that periodically raided the Carthaginian supplies.
Then, finally, an army arrived. In October 705, they caught a small Carthaginian army alone at Lychnidos, and they began to slaughter them, taking advantage of their superior numbers. Unfortunately, they could not complete the rout, and the other Carthaginian forces arrived. The Epirote commander, Herakleides Hekatasid, managed to retreat in good order, though. Furthermore, the Carthaginians had been forced to strip Epirus bare to save their army. Passaron was safe, and the First Holy Legion took advantage of the distraction to liberate Dodona. Lychnidos changed everything.
Indeed, it even convinced the Roman Republic to intervene on Epirus’s behalf. They refused to outright attack Carthage, but they did grant their forces access to their territory, which opened the door to a reclamation of Sicily despite Carthage’s complete control over the seas.
Soon after Lychnidos, Epirus managed their first victory of the war. At Begion, on the border with Rome, a large Carthaginian force was defeated. Its shattered remnants retreated southward, and the road to Magna Graecia - and Sicily - lay open. It would take a while to cross the peninsula, though.
After that, for a brief while, the war deteriorated into brief skirmishes in Greece. Finally, Carthage decided to split their army in half. They sent one army east - towards the Hellespont - and another south. Makartos took immediate advantage, personally leading an army south. In May, he won a victory at Hypata, which boosted Epirote morale. In the meanwhile, Hekatasid attempted to slow the Carthaginian armies down. He succeeded, but he was forced into a battle at Thessalonica, where his army was too small to overcome Carthage’s. Fortunately, that battle bought time for more Asian armies to reach the Greek theater, and the Carthaginian force suffered more casualties than Hekatasid’s.
Finally, the armies of Hekatasid and Makartos met up, and they moved to attack the largest Carthaginian force in the vicinity. The Battle of Pharsalus was a bloody affair. The Epirotes killed many Carthaginians, but reinforcements kept arriving. Eventually, though, the Carthaginian general had enough and ordered a retreat. The new joint army swept across Greece and liberated as many cities as they could. By June, they had even managed to reclaim all of Epirus proper, freeing it from its long nightmare.
And, in March 707, a massive Epirote force crossed the Strait of Messina into Sicily. They began by besieging that city, finally liberating it in August. From there, they liberated all of antebellum Greek Sicily, but Carthage landed enough soldiers on the island to prevent their advance. For a long while, the two armies engaged in a cat and mouse game across the island.
The Greek front also settled down. For a moment, there was a small chance of peace. Rome even offered to mediate a peace conference, and both parties negotiated in Veii. Unfortunately, the Conference of Veii failed - to Carthage’s eternal regret. Carthage demanded complete control of Sicily, but Makartos was unwilling to give up any territory.
In 709, Epirote reinforcements arrived in Sicily, the Conference of Veii adjourned, and Carthaginian armies reached Bisanthe, which was extremely close to the Hellespont. They would go no further - Hekatasid commanded a legion of his original troops and Anatolian reinforcements against them, and the invading force was slaughtered.
The Conference of Veii attempted one last hurrah in 710. In light of recent events, Carthage agreed to allow the borders to return to status quo ante bellum, and it appeared as if peace was on the horizon.
Naturally, it was at that point that the Cult of Hecate decided that the negotiations wouldn’t benefit them, so they revealed that they had an army by seizing control of Amphipolis and invading Illyria. Makartos demanded a return to status quo ante bellum borders and aid against his new foes, which only encouraged Carthage to leave the conference entirely.
Meanwhile, the newly enlarged Epirote army on Sicily destroyed a Carthaginian force at Kentoripa and began their invasion of Carthage’s side of the island. They also encouraged fellow Greek settlers in the area to rise up and shake off Punic oppression, which ignited the Syracusan Revolt.
As things wound down once more, Makartos I mysteriously perished in September 711. He was assassinated, but the assassin cut his own throat when he was caught. No one knows why he killed the emperor - but theories abound. The most believable of these is that he was an agent of the Cult of Hecate…
Regardless, Makartos was succeeded by Pairisades II, and he had no intention of pretending like this war had never happened…
